Free Frey by Melissa Wright Page B

council as their speaker struggled to breathe. A thistle growing
in Evelyn’s throat, slowly choking off her airway. Chevelle’s face
when he had asked who showed me to fuse the crystal with blood. His
expression as he looked down at me yesterday… how could you not know? That image had
haunted me the most. It seemed so familiar somehow. He’d let his
guard down, and though strained with worry and fear, there was
something else there, sadness or maybe just plain
sympathy.
    “ This is a good place to
stop for the night.” Chevelle’s voice broke my reverie. I hadn’t
noticed the entire day had passed. I glanced at the path behind us
and could see the lake below in the distance. It shook me from my
stupor.
    I climbed down from my horse and sat on the
trunk of a fallen tree facing the mountain top instead of the view
below, preferring not to concentrate on the distance or height. I
watched Chevelle lead the horses to a large tree several yards away
where he spun his hand and formed a trough from bark and tinder on
the ground. I didn’t see where the water came from, but it filled
and the horses drank from it as he spun his wrist and grass from
the sparse patches here and there collected in front of them.
Movement caught my eye and I looked to Chevelle in alarm. Though he
appeared calm, he was staring in the same direction. I studied the
black mass that was approaching him. It was a dark cloak, moving
very fast. The full cape covered every part of whoever it was, a
large hood shielding their face.
    Chevelle nodded in greeting
as I scanned the area, I didn’t see anyone else approaching so I
looked back to the couple. They seemed to be whispering, Chevelle
glancing toward me every few seconds. Curiosity burned through me
as they continued in hushed tones. And then a delicate arm reached
out and passed Chevelle something. A
woman . Her hand lingered in his during the
exchange and my chest felt like it was burning inside. Were they whispering about me? Yes, or hiding something, I knew. He continued throwing
glances at me as they spoke. I hungered to hear what they were
saying, enough that my mind spun, even wishing I were invisible,
because if they couldn’t see me, I could get closer and hear .
    Pouting, my eyes fell downward. A small
scream escaped when I saw my arms. They were covered in tree bark,
the same bark as the tree I sat on. I bolted straight up to
standing and began hitting them as if my shirt were on fire, trying
to put out the flame, get the creepy bark off me. I looked up when
I heard Chevelle and the cloaked woman running toward me. But,
panicked, I couldn't keep my gaze off my arms for long. To my
surprise, they were now normal. My head came up again just as the
couple stopped in front of me. The woman gasped. It was Junnie. Her
cloak had fallen and she wore a surprised expression under her
golden curls.
    “ Junnie!” I was so relieved
to see her.
    “ Freya?” She didn’t seem
sure. She reached out slowly and stroked a strand of my black hair,
then dropped it quickly.
    The shock of seeing her disappeared then.
“Are you here for council? To collect me?” My voice was colored
with the shame of being a criminal. Bird killer. Elf strangler.
    She managed to look even more surprised. She
glanced at Chevelle and then back to me, forcing a smile. “Are you
alright, Frey?”
    I stood in front of her
baffled, and then I remembered screaming. More
embarrassment. So, I screamed. I was
covered in bark.
    Her eyebrows turned up as she looked at
Chevelle again, who was mirroring her concerned expression. “Maybe
it’s time to allow her a few small lessons.”
    Magic ? It took a moment to realize I had wished they couldn’t see
me, that I had unwittingly camouflaged myself. This was going to take a while to get used
to .
    “ Tomorrow,” he said.
“Dinner?”
    She grinned at him as she reached an arm
behind her, the cloak moving aside, and drew a bow from her back.
“I’ll get my own, thanks.”
    He nodded